Cruise Ship Industry Research Articles

Assessment of the performance of cruise ship waste management: Case study of the Rio de Janeiro port, Brazil

The significant growth of the cruise ship industry has resulted in economic benefits, but there are also waste management-related challenges. The aim of this case study was to contribute to the research of cruise ship waste management at the Port of Rio de Janeiro. A3 methodology, applied for the first time in this context, was used to create questionnaires to assess the stakeholders involved, revealing that institutional bureaucracy has a negative effect on waste management. In addition, secondary data on unloaded waste, obtained from the transport manifests, showed that 56 % contained reliable information. The main wastes were plastics (57 %), glass (17 %), metal (9 %), and others. With respect to destinations, 41 % were sent to landfills, 55 % recycled and 4 % thermally treated. Only 5 % of cruise ship moorings removed waste at the Port of Rio de Janeiro, attributed to factors such as high costs.

Vulnerability analysis of cruise shipping in ASEAN countries facing COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the cruise shipping industry, disrupting ports and shipping. However, current research predominantly focuses on the impact on individual ports or vessels, leaving a gap in understanding how these disruptions propagate across cruise shipping networks. To address this gap, a novel vulnerability assessment methodology that offers a comprehensive perspective on the broader impact of COVID-19 on cruise shipping networks is developed. It first uses a new weight social network analysis approach to quantify the vulnerability of each cruise port in a shipping network and then combines the curie port local pandemic risk to generate a new index to reveal the COVID-19 impact on the whole cruise shipping network systematically. The new methodology is applied to analyse the ASEAN cruise shipping network. This real-world COVID-19 pandemic case study yields valuable insights that bridge theoretical and practical domains. Integrating local port-level vulnerabilities with shipping network-level vulnerabilities creates a unique index. This index quantifies the individual and collective influence of COVID-19 risks at different cruise ports on the entire regional cruise shipping network. The results directly impact cruise lines seeking to enhance their operations' resilience in the face of COVID-19 challenges. The vulnerability index explains how risk exposure at various ports shapes the network's dynamics. This insight empowers cruise lines to optimise ship deployment schedules, lowering the network's overall COVID-19 pandemic risk. The research method and outcomes offer a pioneering perspective on the vulnerability of cruise shipping networks to COVID-19 disruptions, and other possible disruptions (e.g., climate change) in a broad sense. By elucidating interconnected vulnerabilities, cruise lines are equipped with actionable insights to navigate the complexities of global challenges.

The Epidemiology of Maritime Patients Requiring Medical Evacuation: A Literature Review.

This literature review aims to provide an analysis of the current trends in at-sea medical evacuations (medevacs), with the objective of providing insights to decision-makers to improve patient outcomes. Sixteen sources spanning diverse research methodologies were employed for data collection. The findings point to medical disease processes outweighing trauma and psychiatric conditions as the primary justifications for medical evacuations in the international maritime community. In particular, suspected cardiovascular pathologies emerge as the most prevalent grounds for recommended evacuations, underscoring the impact of their diagnosis and treatment in maritime healthcare scenarios. Enhancing the capabilities of on-site maritime healthcare providers to obtain cardiovascular diagnostic data to facilitate shoreside interpretation is proposed to mitigate the speculations inherent to long-distance medevac decisions. Furthermore, existing research indicates that sustaining a proactive approach focusing on pre-voyage health screenings for seafarers and passenger vessel patrons holds promise in minimizing the risk of emergency evacuations resulting from the exacerbation of chronic medical conditions. This review reveals that while a limited portion of the cruise ship industry possesses established tactical medevac data on crucial aspects of patient care (such as transportation delay, pre- and mid-transport level of care, and ultimate patient outcomes), there exists a dearth of equivalent informatio-n for comparable maritime communities. This knowledge gap necessitates further exploration and research to understand and address diverse seafaring populations' unique challenges. In conclusion, this literature review holistically examines the landscape of at-sea medical evacuation statistics. By assimilating the collective knowledge gleaned from internationally sourced data, this study underscores the urgent need for continued research, comprehensive data collection, and strategic interventions to optimize patient care, enhance tactical decision-making, and ultimately shape a more resilient and responsive healthcare network for maritime communities worldwide.

Economic consequences of the COVID'19 pandemic for functioning of the cruise shipping industry in the Baltic Sea Region

Cruise line owners and insurance companies failed to predict the emergence of a global pandemic that would exclude the entire global cruise fleet from operation for several months. Cruise line owners, the related service suppliers, as well as employees of shipping corporations and, finally, the passengers themselves suffered huge losses. Unfortunately, the cruise line exclusion from the market for more than a year led to a significant drop in demand for sea voyages and, in some cases, the withdrawal of some routes from the cruise timetable or the route change. Even though all cruise line operators introduced appropriate sanitary restrictions, protocols and restrictions to protect against the risk of coronavirus infection in accordance with the recommendations of international institutions, and despite large-scale information campaigns, a significant part of potential passengers still hesitate to travel by sea. This article aims to identify the economic effects that affected the cruising market as a result of the decline in demand for sea voyages in the Baltic Sea Region. The studies involved a few qualitative analysis methods, i.e. secondary data mining, desk research and comparative analysis, as well as critical analysis and deduction. The research process consisted of eight stages according to a model developed by Bell et al. [6]. The results of research may provide interesting cognitive material for seaport authorities and cruise operators useful in planning their activities, to compensate for losses related to the potential threats that may arise in the future. It also identifies several solutions for policy makers to guarantee financial security and insurance cover for businesses and society in the event of other pandemic.

Forecast Analysis of Pollutant Emissions of Cruise Ship Routes in Western Mediterranean

The cruise shipping industry has a steadfast commitment to the environmentally sustainable operation of ships through many initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This paper presents a forecast analysis of the emission inventory of NOx, SO2, and CO2 during the sailing phase associated with cruise routes in the Western Mediterranean. Five scenarios were raised to obtain projections about future emissions considering the evolution of cruise traffic; the implementation of the Sulfur Emission Control Area (SECA) in the Mediterranean by 1 May 2025, and variations in the specific fuel consumption of the engines of the cruise ships. To this extent, a time series of cruise calls during 2019 in Mediterranean ports is used to identify the main routes and their associated emission inventory. Network analysis is applied to identify the routes associated with the cruise calls, and the emission inventory is estimated using a bottom-up approach. A total of 292 cruise routes were identified. The estimations reveal that the emissions of the cruise activities assessed are approximately equivalent to 0.58% of NOx, 0.28% of SO2, and 1% of CO2 of the entirety of the emissions associated with maritime transport at the European level in 2019. The projection of the scenario with the highest cruise activity and the SECA being enforced leads to a reduction of 77% of the emissions of SO2 considering the activity of 2019. The research conducted enables us to assess the environmental impact of the intense cruise ship activity registered in the Mediterranean and the positive footprint of the implementation of new regulations on emissions.

Social transformation in the cruise industry during the COVID-19 pandemic

Social transformation is an emerging trend and a new phenomenon in the cruise industry in the 21st century. Cruise lines encounter stiff competition with many competitors and face sophisticated and unpredictable challenges from the wave of social transformation. Furthermore, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the social transformation phenomena in the industry. This study investigates how social transformation reshapes the cruise industry to discuss the remarkable social and economic changes in the industry. The study builds upon the 4C descriptive framework to suggest how cruise lines take measures to create resilience against the influence affected by social transformation. The study is conducted through 18 semi-structured and in-depth interviews with cruise terminals, travel agencies, logistics, and tourism associations, researchers, cruise lines and passengers, and airlines. The cruise shipping industry structure has fundamentally shifted from supply-driven to demand-driven. The concept of social transformation becomes vital and is a driving force that is more society specific. Findings are drawn as valuable guidelines for cruise lines to scale up in operations and strategies that create social transformation. Cruise lines can also maintain sustainable development and resilient recovery post-COVID-19

Sustainable Cruise Tourism: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Areas

The cruise shipping industry has existed for centuries. However, sustainability is a relatively new trend that could make a big difference and someday impact the industry. A growing body of research on sustainable cruise tourism includes studying changes among industry stakeholders, internal and external processes, and more. However, until now, there have been no comprehensive and systematic reviews of the academic literature on this topic and proposals for future research areas. The sample for our research consists of 56 articles structured into the following themes and subthemes: (1) corporate social responsibility (public interaction and emissions management); (2) territory management (collaboration with stakeholders and infrastructure development); (3) training in sustainable behavior (passengers, ship personnel, and other stakeholders). These themes fully explore the various use cases for sustainable cruises, forming a conceptual framework for understanding trends for the industry’s sustainable development. We direct the attention of other researchers to the following areas for further research: GHG emissions of cruising; biodiversity impacts; quantitative understanding of the target audience and their participation in sustainability financing; in-depth understanding of the reasons for cooperation between stakeholders; identifying the true motivation for participation in sustainable development; the long-term trends; and how the shipping industry is adapting to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research on Stock Price of Two Listed Ship Companies

The development of the manufacturing industries is crucial to the countrys economic growth and technological development. In this study, the stock price return rate of two listed companies (JIANIANHUA and JIALEIBI) are selected as data, and the VAR model is established to conduct impulse response analysis and variance decomposition analysis on the data. We may also find the economic relations by analysing the 2 ship companiess stock under covid. Through the analysis of the results, the following findings can be given: first, VAR model indicates that the companies shows significant impact on each other. Second, in the cruise ship industry, both JIANIANHUA and JIALEIBIs stock price have strong self-adjustment ability. Third, JIANIANHUAs rate of return is less influenced by the rate of return of JIALEBI, while JIALEBIs rate of return is much highly influenced by JIANIANHUA. The papers findings might be helpful to related investors interested in the cruise ship industry.

Impact on air quality from increasing cruise ship activity in Copenhagen port

The impact of the growing cruise ship industry on air quality levels was investigated at the port of Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2018, 345 cruise ships visited Copenhagen, emitting 291 tons of NOx near the city centre. A spatiotemporal cruise ship emission inventory was developed for 2018 based on port list information, engine data, main and auxiliary engine power functions, and NOx emission factors, and was implemented in the OML-Multi atmospheric dispersion model. Evident plume effects from the cruise ships, which were traced by introducing the concept of likely concentration contribution, were obtained in the modelled and measured concentrations at Langelinie Quay, which is the busiest cruise ship terminal in Copenhagen port. Hourly peak values of NOx well above 200 μg m−3 were obtained at the top of a residential building at Langelinie Quay. The emissions from cruise ships were increasing the annual concentration of NO2 in the port area by up to 31% at ground level, and 86% 50 m above the ground in comparison to the urban background level. No exceedance of the European annual limit value of NO2 was obtained. The short-term impact of cruise ships was more pronounced with local exceedances of the hourly European limit value for NO2. Increasing cruise ship activity in Copenhagen port leads to air quality deterioration on short time scales with implications for human health.

An agent-based model for cruise ship evacuation considering the presence of smart technologies on board

The cruise ship industry has faced in recent years a continuous increase in the number of passengers, reaching 28.5 million passengers in 2018, 60.11% more than in 2009. In this context, the research literature has acknowledged the key role played by the passengers' safety and has considered different aspects when dealing with the ship evacuation process related to both environmental properties and human behavioral aspects. Cruise ship companies have manifested a real interest in offering their passengers a safe travel experience and have continuously considered and adapted their evacuation plans to support a faster evacuation process. With the enhancement of technology, cruise ship companies can contribute more to increase safety during an emergency evacuation by providing smartphone applications that can assist each passenger involved in this process. As a result, the present paper aims to measure the impact made by the use of such an application on evacuation time by considering various weather conditions, ship conditions, and different times of the day. According to this purpose, an agent-based model is created for simulating the evacuation process of a ship deck which could accommodate up to 1200 people. The results indicate that using an application reduces the average evacuation time, with a 70% increase in usage leading to a 34.5% reduction in evacuation time. The main contribution of this work is to apply agent-based modelling to analyze the evacuation behavior on cruise ships when smart technologies are available, incorporating in the analysis elements and characteristics that have been previously considered in isolation. The model can be used as a support laboratory for policy advice: it can be applied for estimating the evacuation movement time under various conditions and for different levels of application adoption, as well as for assisting the decision-makers in designing the emergency plans and making the right decisions related to cruise ship evacuation.

Mapping of benthic ecosystems: Key to improving the management and sustainability of anchoring practices for ocean-going vessels

A global fleet of more than 48,000 vessels conveys >80% of world trade by volume. Anchor damage to benthic habitats by these vessels, along with the burgeoning cruise ship industry, represents a key threat to benthic biodiversity and ecosystem function. Here, we use vessel positional information (Automated Identification System (AIS) data) to map anchoring activity. We then focus on the important role that high resolution habitat mapping will play in understanding the distribution of habitat types which may be impacted by anchoring activities. Many international ports have high-intensity anchor areas that remain unmapped and thus risks to benthic biodiversity are poorly understood and inadequately managed. We use case studies from an anchorage in south-eastern Australia, major trade routes in the Middle East and the anchoring of cruise vessels in the Caribbean to highlight the important role of habitat mapping in reducing anchoring impacts. We contend that mapping represents an important safeguard against anchoring impacts from unexpected events such as the COVID-related redirection of cruise vessels to anchorages and the blocking of the Suez Canal by the Ever Given grounding. With increasing maritime trade expected over coming decades there is a need to transition toward sustainable anchorage management practices and provide public confidence in stewardship of marine ecosystems by the maritime industry into the future.

Fear and poor mental health among workers during the global cruise tourism crisis: Impact of low employability and family support

This research examines how fear of the crisis affects the mental health of hospitality workers in the cruise industry by performing a cross-sectional survey and using partial least squares model. Results confirm that fear of pandemic-induced shutdown negatively affects the mental health of cruise ship employees. The moderating effect of perceived employability outside the cruise ship industry and family emotional support are also uncovered. This study successfully consolidates the literature on job demand, job resources, work engagement, and well-being to determine the complex essence of cruise ship employees’ work engagement and well-being. Theoretically, this study expands the scarce literature that links the fear of the crisis with employees’ poor mental health. Some previous studies have examined this relationship in other contexts of economic crisis throughout history, but, for obvious reasons, none of these studies have had the opportunity to investigate a global economic crisis associated with a health crisis.

Mosquito surveillance in maritime entry ports in Miami-Dade County, Florida to increase preparedness and allow the early detection of invasive mosquito species.

Invasive mosquito vector species have been inadvertently transported to new areas by humans for decades. Strong evidence supports that monitoring maritime, terrestrial, and aerial points of entry is an essential part of the effort to curb the invasion and establishment of invasive vector mosquito species. Miami-Dade County, Florida is an important operational hub for the cruise ship industry and leisure boats that routinely visit nearby areas in the Caribbean, and freight cargo ships transporting goods from Miami-Dade to Caribbean countries and vice versa. To deal with the increasing public health concern, we hypothesized that mosquito surveillance in small- and medium-sized maritime ports of entry in Miami-Dade is crucial to allow the early detection of invasive mosquito species. Therefore, we have selected 12 small- and medium-sized maritime ports of entry in Miami-Dade County with an increased flow of people and commodities that were not covered by the current mosquito surveillance system. Collection sites were comprised of two distinct environments, four marinas with international traffic of leisure boats, and eight maintenance and commercial freight cargo ship ports. Mosquitoes were collected weekly at each of the 12 collection sites for 24 hours for 6 weeks in the Spring and then for 6 additional weeks in the Summer using BG-Sentinel traps. A total of 32,590 mosquitoes were collected, with Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti being the most abundant species totaling 19,987 and 11,247 specimens collected, respectively. Our results show that important mosquito vector species were present in great numbers in all of the 12 maritime ports of entry surveyed during this study. The relative abundance of Cx. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti was substantially higher in the commercial freight cargo ship ports than in the marinas. These results indicate that even though both areas are conducive for the proliferation of vector mosquitoes, the port area in the Miami River is especially suitable for the proliferation of vector mosquitoes. Therefore, this potentially allows the establishment of invasive mosquito species inadvertently brought in by cargo freights.

COVID-19 and the global cruise ship industry: potential recovery and reformation pathways

The cruise ship industry was one of the fastest growing subsectors of the tourism industry before the advent of COVID-19. This paper examines the prospects and recovery of the cruise ship industry from the devastating impacts of COVID-19 on the industry. The study relied mostly on event study and secondary data, including survey data from authoritative sources, data from representative organisations, news reports and academic literature. The results show that the industry exhibited high levels of customer loyalty and resilience to the COVID-19-induced downturn. The industry also adopted additional protocols to improve public health on board and protect the health and safety of customers, crews and visited communities. However, continued travel restrictions at both source and destination markets, as well as the continued resurgence of the virus and related uncertainties, threaten the recovery of the industry. Mandatory vaccination of both crew and passengers needs to be considered.

Cruise Passenger-Oriented Evaluation System for the Public Transport of Hinterland Destinations

The cruise ship industry has become the fastest-growing sector of leisure and tourist business. In terms of the daily cruise service, a key part lies in the accessibility to attractive hinterland destinations. From the viewpoints of safety, efficiency, and environmental protection, public transport is considered to be a good option to access hinterland destinations. It requires the design and selection of public transport routes for cruise passengers by evaluating service quality. The existing studies focus on the evaluation of transport service quality incorporating the passenger perspective while there is a lack of studies oriented towards the cruise passengers. In this paper, we aim at setting up a four-layer cruise passenger-oriented evaluation system. Two cruise centers located in Hamburg, Germany, and Qingdao, China are focused. The proposed evaluation system identifies the weights of 21 criteria and the ranking of the transport routes for cruise passengers in different age groups. Considering the berthing time of cruise ships and the commuting time of local residents, the proposed evaluation system also provides suggestions for the one-day tour itinerary of cruise passengers in the hinterland. Moreover, the preferences on transport routes of different-age cruise passengers are disclosed to promote the relevant improvement in public transport infrastructure in specific transport routes. In doing so, this paper aims at supporting the smart city development for port cities.

Resisting the Tourist Gaze. Art Activism Against Cruise Ship Extractivism in the Venice Lagoon

The essay situates Venice’s struggles against the cruise ship industry within a larger framework of resistance against planetary extractive capitalism, emphasising the role of local art-activist initiatives in denouncing the social and the ecological degradation caused by the cruise ship presence in Venice. In the first part, the concept of extractive tourism is introduced and analysed in relation to the case of Venice and the cruise companies’ economic model. The operations and infrastructure of cruise tourism produce extractive relations that entangle and exploit tourists, local communities and the natural environment. The Author examines how mass tourism has aggravated the environmental and social issues of the city of Venice and its lagoon. In the second part, the essay presents a number of artistic projects, specifically by visual artists Eleonora Sovrani, Gli Impresari, Banksy, and Elena Mazzi. These artworks can help us visualise the failures of the current urban development model of the tourist economy, while also exposing the nefarious effects of extractive capitalism on the well-being of the lagoon ecosystem and the human and non-human subjects cohabiting in it.

Value Analysis and Value Engineering on the Sustainability of Global Sourcing Competitiveness

Abstract In this research, the sustainability and global sourcing competitiveness of international cruise ships is studied. The sustainability and competitiveness is just like two sides of a coin. On one hand, reducing the pollution and raw material waste is not only to protect our precious nature resources, but also to bring the cost down. On the other hand, a good global sourcing decision could deliver the cost saving and also keep the cruise ship industry towards the sustainable way. Therefore, in order to reach the goals of sustainability and competitiveness, the cruise ships may apply the current common practice of value analysis and value engineering to identify the possible global sourcing opportunity. This short exploratory paper outlines some of the characteristics of value analysis and value engineering, as illustrated by sustainability of global sourcing competitiveness. Eventually, the discussion of this paper provides some implications for international cruise ship companies. JEL classification numbers: F16, F60, Q23. Keywords: Value Analysis, Value Engineering, Sustainability, Global Sourcing.

Emic Views of Community Resilience and Coastal Tourism Development

Coastal communities are among the most rapidly changing, institutionally complex, and culturally diverse in the world, and they are among the most vulnerable to anthropogenic change. While being a driver of anthropogenic change, tourism can also provide socio-economic alternatives to declining natural resource-based livelihoods for coastal residents. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of small-scale cruise tourism on coastal community resiliency in Petersburg, Alaska. Exploring these impacts through resiliency theory’s lens of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, we employed ethnographic research methods that emphasize emic viewpoints to determine how residents see this form of tourism affecting the resiliency of valued community culture, institutions, and traditional livelihoods. Findings indicate that with purposeful engagement in niche cruise tourism involving boats with 250 passengers or less, and an active rejection of the large cruise ship industry, Petersburg exhibits increased adaptive capacity to promote the resilience of valued community institutions and heritage. This work draws needed recognition to the diversity of activities that fall under the label of cruise tourism, including the distinct implications of smaller-scale, niche cruise tourism for the resilience of coastal communities. It also highlights the need to capture emic perspectives to understand the politics of community resiliency.

Learning from failures in cruise ship industry: The blackout of Viking Sky in Hustadvika, Norway

This article brings to attention learning from the failure - blackout, loss of propulsion and near grounding - of Viking Sky cruise ship which occurred in Hustadvika, Norway, in March 2019. Failures and accidents in the cruise ship industry attract the global media and can severely impact reputation and business performance of companies and authorities involved. A system approach investigation and analysis - CAST - was employed with the aim to maximize learning from the Viking Sky’s failure through a systematic approach and to contribute to failure reduction in the cruise ship industry. Three main recommendations emerged from this study: an overview of the accident or failure precursors and resilience indicators; safety recommendations for other cruise ships; lessons and strategies of actions for the increased cruise operations in the Arctic and Antarctic areas. It was found that several accident or failure precursors, for example, a low level of lubricating oil, the failure of a turbocharger, an inoperative large diesel generator, lack of functionality for safety equipment due to bad weather, and others precursors contributed to failure and highly critical situation encountered by Viking Sky in Hustadvika. Resilience indicators such as the master’s immediate decision to launch mayday, the crew preparedness, and the way how the emergency situation was handled were found to have positive impacts on critical situation of Viking Sky. This article highlights also that adaptations and improvement of standards and regulations for harsh environmental conditions can play an important role in prevention of marine accidents. Furthermore, for a better understanding of correlation between environmental loads and their effects on machinery systems, digital solutions such as digital twin for condition monitoring of cruise ships in the Polar areas are seen as possible innovative solutions yet to be fully implemented in the marine industry.

Identify the CLIA’s Effort Towards to Mitigate the Environment Impact by Cruise Tourism Industry

Cruise tourism is the fastest growing industry in the leisure travel market, and annually nearly 30 million passengers engage in cruising. Thereby it encounters for massive negative impact on the marine environment. The cruise industry is under the leadership of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) which has over 95 % global capacity under the membership. CLIA establishes policies and procedures to undertake by its members to ensure the sustainability of the industry. The primary objective of the study is to explore the negative environmental impact caused by cruise shipping industry and the secondary objective is to recognize the contribution of CLIA towards mitigating the negative environmental impact. The study is conducted using an exploratory approach and the data is drawn from the official website of CLIA and other websites and publications regarding cruise tourism, waste management and environmental impacts. Cruise industry policies and environmental stewardship reports of CLIA are used to manifest the negative environmental impact caused by the cruise ships and implement policies and procedures to mitigate them using high end technology, driving towards sustainability. The study provides an understanding on how the implied mechanisms of CLIA is driving the cruise industry towards sustainability.